Engine.



W. S. HARLEY.

, ENGINE.

APPLIOATION FILED Inn, 1913.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Wwy

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

WILLIAM S. HARLEY, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

ENGINE.

lowing is a full, clear, and eXactdescription thereof.

My invention refers to tandem cylinder internal combustion engines of that type usually employed in motorcycle construetion and has for its object to provide a simple, economical and effective means for causing an even distribution of oil to the cylinders, the oil being delivered to said cylinders through rotation of the engine crank.

The type of engine referred to generally comprises a closed circular crank casing adapted to carry a predetermined quantity of oil. The crank casing is provided with a pair of tangentially disposed cylinders ektending radially therefrom and having thelr mouths in communication with said casing. The engine crank-shaft is in the form of a double disk connected by a crank-pin, which crank-pin carries pitmen that are connected to the pistons in the usual manner.

Lubricant is delivered to the engine cylinders by the crank disks, which disks rotate in a body of oil that is taken up and by centrifugal force discharged about the mouths of the cylinders, from which point the oil is drawn up to e'fiiect the desired lubrication by suction induced through the upstroke of the pistons.

In practice it has been found that the first cylinder, with respect to the direction of rotation of the crank disks, receives an ample supply of oil and that the succeeding cylinder, with respect to the direction of rotation, will, in consequence, receive an inadequate supply of lubricant. This is due to the fact that the mouth of said second cylinder is out of alinement with the major portion of the oil discharge, which discharge is delivered to a greater degree to the first cylinder and hence the oil distribution to the tandem cylinders is unequal.

In order to overcome the above mentioned defects and to equalize the distribution of oil with respect to the cylinders, I provide the inner flat peripheral wall of the circular crank-casing with obliquely disposed ribs, interposing the mouths of the cylinders, which ribs converge toward the second cylinder or in the same direction as that of ro- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 7, 1913.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Serial No. 777,705.

tation of the crank disk, whereby the oil is gathered and directed in a more or less restricted stream and is discharged in the direction of the mouth of the second cylinder, the edges of the ribs being juxtaposed to the peripheral edges of the crank-disks to thus skim the oily deposits from said crank-disks and effectually deliver the collected oil to the mouth of the second cylinder, where it is sucked up by the action of the piston therein, and to facilitate the suction. force the mouth of the second cylinder is, as shown, preferably restricted in comparison to the mouth of the first mentioned cylinder which, under all conditions, is amply lubricated.

lVith the above objects in view the invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts as hereinafter set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation with parts broken away of a portion of an engine embodying the features of my invention, the section being indicated by line 11 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a detailed invertedplan sectional view of the same, the section being indicated by line 9r'-2 of Fig. l, and Fig. 8, a detailed section view through a portion of one of the cylinders and the crank-casing, the section being indicated by line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Referring by characters to the drawings, 1, 1, represent the two-part members of a circular crank-casing, which members are clamped and secured together by suitable bolts 2- that pass through ears extending from the annular walls. 3, 3, of said crank, casing members, the oint between the members being formed by a centrally disposed annular tongue-and-groove, connection. The annular wall of each of the crank-casing members is formed with a semi-circular recess, which recesses together constitute the mouth 4 of an engine cylinder 5 that is fitted to the mouth and secured in any suitable manner thereto, the said engine cylinder being extended in a radial direction with reference to the axis of the casing. In juxtaposition to the engine cylinder mouth Leach of the casing members is formed with a semicircular recess 6, which recesses together con stitute a circular recess for the reception of a second cylinder 7, the said second cylinder being also radially disposed with relation to the crank casing and secured thereto. The semi-circular recesses 6 which form the mouth of the second cylinder are intersected longitudinally by straight offset web portions, which portions together form a rectangular slot 8 that constitutes a mouth for the second cylinder, which mouth communicates with the crank-casing chamber. Thus itwill be seen that one of the mouths formed in the annular wall of the crank casing is circular and the other mouth is restricted in the form of a longitudinal slot.

Crank-shaft sections 9 are mounted in suitable journals with which the crank casing is provided, each of the same having secured thereto a disk 10, the pair of crankdisks being connected by a crank-pin 10. This crank pin carries a pitman-rod 11, as shown, which is connected to the piston oi the first cylinder 5 and a similar pitman-rod 11 connects the piston of the second cylinder, said pistons being not shown, in the accompanying illustrations.

All of the before mentioned parts of the engine are of ordinary construction and form no part of my invention and the crankdisks are rotated in the direction as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. The crankeasing carries a predetermined quantity of oil and as the crank-disk revolves the oil is carried up and, by centrifugal "force, discharged into the mouth of the first cylinder, it being understood that said cylinder is mentioned as the first cylinder relative to the direction of rotation of the crank-disk. A certain quantity of the oil so lifted is discharged by centrifugal torce into the mouth of the first cylinder and in order to eflectually lubricate the second cylinder I provide a pair of obliquely disposed flanges 12, 12, which flanges depend from the inner annular walls of the crank-disk membersand, as best shown in Fig. 3, the flanges are interposed between the cylinder mouths, the said flanges being extended from the side faces of the crank-easing members inwardly toward the mouth of the second cylinder, at which point they are slightly spaced apart to form an oil discharge groove 18, which groove communicates with the rectangular mouth of the second cylinder. This pair of obliquely disposed flanges, as shown, are at opposite tangents relative to the circular cylinder mouth and converge toward the elongated mouth of the second cylinder thus constitute an oil channel, which forms a communication between the mouths of the first and second cylinders, the edges of said flanges being juxtaposed to the peripheral edges of the disks 10. Hence the deposit of oil which is thrown oif from the disks is partly delivered to the first cylinder and the remainder is trapped by the converging flanges 12 and 12 and delivered in the form of a restricted stream to the mouth of the second cylinder, from which point it is sucked into the body of the cylinder by the upward stroke of the piston which suction causes a suflicient vacuum, to effectually draw the oil into the cylinder and thereby lubricate the same.

I claim:

1. In an engine having a circular wall crank-casing, radially disposed cylinders having mouths in communication therewith, and a cranlcdisk revolubly mounted within the casing, the periphery of which is adapted to travel past the mouths of the cylinders; the combination of an oil channel formed in the circular walls of said crankcasing between the mouths of the cylinders and juxtaposing the periphery of the crankdisk, the oil channel being provided with walls that converge from the mouth of one cylinder to the mouth of the succeeding cylinder relative to the direction of rotation of the crank-disk, whereby a port-ion of the oil deflected from said crank-disk is trapped within the oil channel and directed toward the mouth of the second cylinder in a confined stream.

2. In a crank-casing having a flat circular inner wall provided with a circular cylinder mouth, and an alined elongated cylinder mouth; the combination of a pair of conver ing flanges depending from the inner circular wall of the casing, the flanges being converged from the circular mouth toward the elongated mouth and spaced apart at their contracted ends to form a restricted oil groove therebetween, and a rotatory crankdisk having its peripheral edge arranged to travel past the flanges in the direction of their convergence whereby deposits of oil upon the periphery of the crank-disk are gathered and delivered in a restricted stream toward the elongated mouth.

3. In an engine having a circular walled crank-casing and provided with engine cylinder mouths therein; the combination of converging flanges depending from the circular wall between the cylinder mouths, the flanges having circular edges concentric with said wall, and a crank-disk concentrically revoluble within the crank-casing, the periphery of which co-acts with the circular edges or" the flanges for delivering oil therebetween in the direction of their convergence.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand atlililwaukee in the county of Milwaukee and State of I'Visconsin in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM S. HARLEY.

lVitnesses EDWIN F. Cnsrnn, J. MUELLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

